1. THE APOCALYPSE OR BOOK OF REVELATION

CHAPTER 1

1. The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John,

2. who bore witness to the Word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to whatever he saw.

3. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it, for the time is near.

4. John, to the seven churches which are in Asia:

Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before His throne,

5. and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth, who loves us and washes us from our sins in His blood,

6. and makes us kings and priests to His God and Father. To Him be glory and might forever and ever. Amen.

7. Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him, and all the tribes of the earth will wail because of Him. Even so, Amen.

8. "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End," says the Lord, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

9. I, John, who am also your brother and your companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patient awaiting of Jesus Christ, was on the island called Patmos for the Word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.

10. I became in the spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet,

11. saying, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last. What you see, write in a book and send it to the churches which are in Asia - Ephesus and Smyrna, Pergamum and Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea."

12. Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me, and having turned I saw seven golden lampstands,

13. and in the midst of the seven lampstands one like the Son of Man, clothed with a long robe and girded about the breasts with a golden girdle.

14. His head and hair were white, like wool as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire.

15. His feet were like fine brass, as though fired in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters;

16. having in His right hand seven stars, and issuing from His mouth a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance as the sun shines in its power.

17. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last,

18. and am He who lives, and was put to death, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of hell and death.

19. Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this.

20. The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches."

THE SPIRITUAL MEANING

The Contents of the Whole Chapter:

The meaning is that this revelation comes from the Lord alone, and is received by people who will be in His New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, and who will acknowledge the Lord as God of heaven and earth. The Lord also is described in relation to the Word.

-----

The Contents of the Individual Verses:

THE EXPOSITION

People have hitherto not known what the spiritual meaning is. We have shown in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 5-26, that it exists in every constituent of the Word, and that in many places the Word cannot be understood apart from it. This meaning is not apparent in the literal sense, for it is present in it as the soul is in the body.

People do know that there is a spiritual reality and a natural one, and that the spiritual one flows into the natural one and presents itself to be seen and felt in forms that fall within the scope of people's vision and touch. Moreover, they know that apart from these forms the spiritual component is perceived only as affection and thought, or as love and wisdom, which are properties of the mind. They acknowledge that affection and thought, or love, which has the capacity to be affected, and wisdom, which has the capacity to think, are spiritual. They know that these two faculties of the soul present themselves in forms in the body that are called sensory and motor organs, and furthermore, that these forms operate in harmony with those faculties, so much so that when the mind thinks something, the mouth in an instant expresses it, and when the mind wills something, the body in an instant does it. It is apparent, therefore, that there is a perfect union of spiritual and natural components in the human being.

[2] The case is the same with each and every constituent of the world. Each has in it something spiritual as the inmost of its cause, and something natural as its effect, and these two function as one. Moreover, the spiritual component is not apparent in the natural one, because, as we said, it is present in the natural one as the soul is in the body and as the inmost of a cause is in the effect.

It is the same with the Word. Because it is Divine, no one can deny that it is spiritual at its core. But because the spiritual component is not apparent in the literal sense, which is natural, therefore the spiritual meaning has been hitherto unknown. Nor could it have been known previously, before the Lord revealed genuine truths, as the spiritual meaning consists in those truths.

It is on this account that the book of Revelation has heretofore not been understood. But lest there be any doubt that it contains such truths, its contents must be explained phrase by phrase and demonstrated by similar passages elsewhere in the Word. The explanation and demonstration now follow.

256. CHAPTER 5

1. And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals.

2. Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the book and to loose its seals?"

3. And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book, or to look in it.

4. So I wept much, that no one was found worthy to open and read the book, or to look in it.

5. But one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the book and to loose its seven seals."

6. And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb standing as though slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

7. Then He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.

8. Now when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a lyre, and a golden bowl full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

9. And they sang a new song, saying, "You are worthy to take the book and to open its seals, because You were slain and have redeemed us to God by Your blood, out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,

10. and have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth."

11. Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands,

12. saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and... honor and glory and blessing!"

13. And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying, "Blessing and honor and glory and strength be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!"

14. Then the four living creatures said, "Amen!" And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever.

THE SPIRITUAL MEANING

The Contents of the Whole Chapter

The meaning is that the Lord in His Divine humanity will execute a judgment based on the Word and in accordance with it, because He embodies the Word; and that all in the three heavens acknowledge this.

The Contents of the Individual Verses:

THE EXPOSITION

And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back. (5:1) This symbolizes the Lord in respect to His underlying Divinity from eternity, to whom belongs omnipotence and omniscience, and who embodies the Word, who also of Himself knows the states of life of all in heaven and on earth, in every particular and in their entirety.

He who sat on the throne means the Lord in respect to His underlying Divinity from which His humanity originates, for the statement follows that the Lamb took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne (verse 7), and the Lamb means the Lord in respect to His humanity. The book written inside and on the back means the Word in every particular and in its entirety - "inside" meaning in every particular, and "on the back," in its entirety. Inside and on the back also mean the inner meaning of the Word, which is spiritual, and its outer meaning, which is natural. The right hand means the Lord in respect to His omnipotence and omniscience, because the subject is the exploration of all in heaven and on earth on whom the Last Judgment would fall, and their separation.

As the embodiment of the Word, the Lord knows of Himself the states of life of all in heaven and on earth, because He is Divine truth itself, and Divine truth itself, of itself, knows everything. This, however, is a secret which we disclosed in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom.

The fact that the Lord was the Word, that is to say, Divine truth, in respect to His Divinity from eternity is apparent from this statement in John:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)

And the fact that the Lord came to embody the Word even in respect to His humanity, from this statement also in John:

And the Word became flesh... (John 1:14)

It can be seen from this what is meant by the testimony that the book was in right hand of Him who sat on the throne, and that the Lamb took the book from it (verse 7).

[2] Since the Lord embodies the Word, and the Word is the Divine truth which forms heaven and the church in general, and each angel in particular so as to have heaven in him, and each person so as to have the church in him, and because the Word is here meant by the book on the basis of which and according to which all are to be judged, therefore we find references here and there to being written in the book, to being judged on the basis of the book, and to being blotted out from the book, where the subject is someone's state of eternal life, as in the following places:

(The Ancient of Days) sat in judgment, and the books were opened. (Daniel 7:10)

...your people shall be delivered, every one who is found written in the book. (Daniel 12:1)

My frame was not hidden from You... ...on Your book were written all the days..., and not one of them is missing. (Psalms 139:15-16)

(Moses said,) ."..I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written." And Jehovah said..., "He who has sinned against Me, him I will blot out of My book." (Exodus 32:32-33)

Let them be blotted out of the book of life, and not be written with the righteous. (Psalms 69:28)

I saw (that) books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to the things which were written in the Book, according to their works..., and if anyone was not found written in the Book of Life, he was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:12-15)

There shall not enter into (the New Jerusalem) anything... but those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. (Revelation 21:27)

All... will worship (the beast), whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb... (Revelation 13:8, cf. 17:8)

That the Book means the Word may be seen in the book of Psalms:

In the scroll of the book it is written of me. (Psalms 40:7)

And in Ezekiel:

I looked, and lo, there was a hand stretched out to me, and... in it the scroll of a book... written in front and in back... (Ezekiel 2:9-10)

...the book of the words of Isaiah... (Luke 3:4)

...the Book of Psalms... (Luke 20:42)